In what seems to be the latest in a string of vandalisms around the country, a mural in Louisville, Ky., dedicated to Black people killed by police violence was vandalized early Monday morning.
According to the Courier-Journal, the “Say Their Names” mural was put up last summer and features the faces of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and David McAtee—all of whom died as a result of police violence last year. Braylyn Resko Stewart, one of the artists behind the mural, told the Courier-Journal that he found out about the vandalism when the owner of the building it was painted on texted him a picture of the mural after it was defaced with blue paint.
“I’ve seen other murals around town being defaced,” Stewart told the news outlet. “I know it was a matter of time before it was going to happen.”
The mural also had the words “Patriot Front” spray painted on it. This is noteworthy because across the country, multiple murals and monuments to victims of police violence have been defaced by what appears to be the same group. Last week, a monument to George Floyd that was unveiled in Brooklyn on Juneteenth was vandalized with the words “Patriot Front” also spray painted on it, and another monument to Floyd that was unveiled in Newark was also defaced with the same words.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Patriot Front is a group of bitch-made white boys neo-Nazis that was created by an 18-year-old white dude in Texas. Deadass. I guess yelling the hard R in Xbox Live lobbies simply isn’t enough for teenage assholes these days.
Shame.
Anyway, Stewart has already said they intend to restore the mural and a GoFundMe he set up to get anti-graffiti coating and other supplies has nearly reached it’s $5,000 goal as of this writing. “In our entire artist community and our community [in] general, there is more love than hate,” Stewart told the Journal. “So I think we’re going to bounce back well and even stronger from this.”
Louisville Metro Police Department spokesman Dwight Mitchell said on Monday that they don’t have any suspects, but the department is currently investigating the vandalism and “currently collecting evidence and canvassing the neighborhood for any witnesses.”